Outdoor interior

Dorota Bielawska

04 of December '19

"Le jardin. Intérieur à ciel ouvert"

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"Le jardin. Intérieur à ciel ouvert" in Normandy

[ A&B Original Material 7/8'2018]

We associate the word "landscape" primarily with nature, meanwhile, we originally used it in Europe exclusively to refer to representation, so, for example, an oil painting depicting a landscape. The origins of landscape can be traced to the urban elite's dreams of nature, inspired by the Italian countryside and ancient texts. The use of the word "landscape" à propos of what we see directly in the open air came much later. Today we even use the term "cityscape".

Landscape was born on a piece of paper. And while it doesn't become architecture by doing so, it is already some kind of foreshadowing of it. The landscape depicts a place that remains natural, takes us to another reality, and yet is familiar. The human hand has left its mark on it. The dualistic need of man - to overcome nature and at the same time to commune directly with it - becomes apparent here. While the city is still the cradle of architecture and the countryside its garden, the relationship between the two is not so clear-cut today, and it is certainly not possible to speak of harmony between the two. Since architecture has been in increasingly strong opposition to nature, the question of the natural landscape and our place in it has become extremely topical.

The creators of "Garden - an interior open to the sky" are also asking them. "Le jardin. Intérieur à ciel ouvert" - as its name sounds in the original - is located in the French town of Athis-de-l'Orne on the edge of Normandy. The garden resembles a house, but is devoid of a roof. It is an intimate space, enclosed within tight boundaries, yet completely open to the sky. An area of just under three thousand square meters gathers more than a thousand plant species. Despite the natural nature of the garden, every bit of land or detail is under control, and chance is written into the top-down plan.

Benoît and Dominique Delomez

It all started twenty years ago, when Dominique and Benoît Delomez - a pair of French visual artists - decided to move from the city to their rural hometown. The garden they created is yet another interior of their home, only that it is outdoors, as if indeed architecture is not a denial of nature, but can be its continuation. From May to September they share it with the public.

Dorota BIELAWSKA

A conversation with Dominique and Benoît Delomez - creators of "Le jardin. intérieur à ciel ouvert"

Situation - 0. garden entrance; 1. pond with water lash; 2. sheathing/sculpture; 3. nest (bamboo); 4. Miscanthus walkway; 5. stonework; 6. Normandy hedge; 7. plant; 8. pool with newts; 9. waterfall/sculpture; 10.Bamboo park/installation; 11. fern alley; 12. sound installation; 13. Normandy hedge; 14. laurel bushes; 15. vegetable garden; 16. lucky tree; 17. yew alley; 18. terrace; 19. exotic pond

Dorota Bielawska: "Le jardin. Intérieur à ciel ouvert" is a place where everyday life takes center stage.

Dominique Delomez:Everything revolves around an everyday gesture. We perform it with the audience in mind, of course, but also ourselves, and, above all, the garden. The places left to nature, the undercutting of vegetation, the linking of water with the mineral context, the ritualistic almost raking of sand - all of this makes up our work.

Douglas fir wood platform and Dicksonia tree fern

Dorothy: The grounds of today's "Le jardin" did not always resemble a garden.

Benoît Delomez:When we arrived here, the site of today's garden was a disused landfill. So we started from nothing. We only had water, thanks to the springs that existed here. But the ponds we had to dig. The terrain we found was rather flat, with no visible relief. We carried fifty truckloads of earth to give the space shape.

Dorothy: The garden seems to have grown rather unexpectedly in the Normandy landscape.

Benoît: In a sense, we are inside the sculpture, if you can call it a garden. So we are inside, rather than around - outside, and we can view it in a 360-degree radius. Moving around, we get to know its different zones. Our motto is to stay on the border between the orderly and the unexpected.

Douglas fir wood platform and Normandy hedge

Dorothy: Where did the collection of ferns at "Le jardin" come from? There are exactly 135 species here. Did they grow here before, giving direction to your passion?

Benoît: Only reeds grew everywhere, because the terrain was damp, and also field sorrel, which we used to think of as an herbaceous plant. And nothing else. So all this had to be removed. There were also poplars, under which, as a rule, nothing grows, and which we also cut down. What was left was an empty space, plus a very sunny one. The ferns interested us in the context of their prehistoric origin, as did the horsetails. And also in the graphic and architectural aspect, due to the form and shape of the leaves. It must be said that this type of plant is a staple in our garden. Thanks to the developing shoots of ferns, every spring we observe a true miracle of birth. Besides, their wild character also plays an important role.

Dominique: The pondered Normandy context was also taken into account when creating the garden. This is one of its characteristics. The plant capital was mainly les haies bocagères, which are very typical of our area (a semi-wild hedge found in a field-forest landscape interspersed with small, irregular fields with wooded and bushy spits, endangered for several decades due to the intensive development of industrial agriculture - author's note). "Le jardin" is a journey to other parts of the world, but the point of reference remains Normandy, because we are from there. A line of traditional semi-wild hedges marks the boundary of our garden.

The garden's sheathing and pond with water lash

Dorothy: Protecting the Normandy landscape, with its characteristic small, irregular fields, with les haies bocagères, has become a challenge for environmentalists today.

Dominique: This landscape stands for diversity and biological richness. Since we care about the environment in our garden, les haies bocagères find their place here as much as possible, their ecological niche. Our activity has a historical, biological and aesthetic aspect at the same time.

Dorothy: "Le jardin" is a contemporary garden?

Dominique: It is nevertheless a form of modernity. We can't talk about French, English, Italian or Japanese gardens. We are passionate about the history of the garden, but the goal is not to imitate any particular pattern. The direction of our work is determined primarily by a certain artistic vision, whether in the field of architecture or applied arts.

Red-veined chickweed[Dryopteris Erythrosora].

Dorothy: The concept of exoticism also comes up in the context of your garden.

Dominique: Neo-exoticism, I would say. It's not an exotic garden in the strict sense, because we can't afford to grow many species that simply wouldn't survive the winter in Normandy. Nevertheless, some plants that came from far away feel very comfortable here and give the garden an exotic expression. Our interests are particularly directed towards Asia. We like some plant species that come from there, for example, bamboo - for its aesthetic and practical values, such as protection from the wind. We also like to arrange the garden in different ways, depending on its parts. This turns a walk through "Le jardin" into a real journey.

Dorothy: And almost every day you go on a slightly different journey?

Dominique: This aspect of impermanence, of ephemerality is of great interest to us. The garden in its transience, its changeability, forces us to reflect on our work. We are aware that we are not creating something eternal. Likewise, the art installations by Benoît that are in the garden may one day go somewhere else from here, or they may not, but the perspective of the garden gives them a kind of vulnerability, a weakness that makes us be vigilant. It also makes us time travel here. When children come to us, we explain to them that ferns are plants that still remember the dinosaurs.

sculpture "Dialogues" ("Dialogues"), mirror, glass, concrete, 150×110×110 cm, proj.: Benoît Delomez

Dorota: Benoît's art installations live in the garden in true symbiosis.

Benoît: My installations that we see today in the garden have existed before, they were created for another place. Here, Dominique and I are trying to fuse them with the new environment. We gave them a new life, they entered into dialogue with the garden, and they are well integrated today. There are only a few of them here, by the way. The idea was not to create a garden of my sculptures.

Dorota: The cube with its mirrored surfaces, which at the same time filters light like a medium, has become a symbol of your garden. It contains the idea of dialogue, according to which "Le jardin" also seems to function.

Dominique: The Benoît cube has indeed become emblematic of our garden and is, in a way, its quintessence. The garden is a place of meeting, reflection and exchange of ideas, of which the mirrored cube is in a way a metaphor. It participates in the daily life of the garden, in communication with the public. Thanks to the form of the installation, it is often the visitors themselves who become part of it for a moment.

vegetable garden - mirrors

Dorothy: What does the name "Garden. An interior open to the sky"?

Dominique: The garden is a whole, but at the same time it is made up of individual, passable parts. We traverse different color spaces here, it is formed by different substrates. It's a bit like a house, only it doesn't have a roof. It is a space that we arrange in three dimensions. The ground - the soil of the garden - is just as important as its vertical aspect.

Benoît: I can also add à propos of the name that when we take care of the garden, we say that we "do the cleaning" - like the inside of a house.

Dorothy: Your garden also includes a place for the kitchen: you grow plants that you use for cooking.

Dominique: The part of "Le jardin", where the vegetable garden is located, is one more "room". The association with gardens characteristic of monasteries also appears here, of course, because aromatic and medicinal plants dominate. And besides, everything is in a certain order, subject to organization. On the other hand, it is impossible to speak of an enclosed garden here, in the traditional sense. There is no stone wall surrounding it. Fruit trees formed into a u-shaped row serve as the entrance to the vegetable garden and its enclosure. Boxwood also appears, a bit like in a classical French garden, geometric order rules here. We part with the mineral aspect, the slate stone disappears, thanks to the wood around the mirrors color appears, which gives warmth and creates an intimate atmosphere.

Pagoda tree-formed dogwood[Cornus Controversa Variegata] and Wallich's Creeper[Dryopteris Wallichiana].

Dorothy: It is colloquial to say "a house with a garden," in your case it would be more like "a garden with a house."

Benoît: The idea was indeed to make the house as inconspicuous as possible, to disappear into the greenery. It integrates quite well, mainly thanks to the color scheme. The black color makes it go into the background.

Dorota: Was the concept of the garden in your minds from the very beginning?

Benoît: There was no drawn plan for the garden, it arose spontaneously, forming day by day, around the ponds. One could distinguish three phases of its emergence, because we have three ponds. We created "Le jardin" based primarily on a feeling rather than a specific program.

Dominique: Our garden caters to all audiences. So in many ways it can be seen as a conceptual work and at the same time - this is probably the magic of all gardens - it works directly on the senses. Certain parts of the garden may appeal more to some than others, but everyone can find their place in "Le jardin." This is a garden meant for living. We decided to donate it to others, but at the very beginning we created it just for us, and in a way it remains just our garden. It still gives us the desire to experience it as a permanent work. We have regular visitors who come back regularly: they buy a subscription and come when they feel like spending some time here. In addition, we receive artists here, hold exhibitions, and have school visits, during which we adapt to the age of the audience. People also come from far away, from other countries, we never cease to be surprised.

Dorota: Thank you for the interview.